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Poverty to Prosperity
Budget Presentation
Gordon House March 19, 2015
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Charging an upfront user-fee under a cost sharing arrangement to cover the
funding gap, is the most inefficient way of financing the provision of health
service.
The fee is usually not affordable, it cannot be collected under all circumstances, and it is
impractical to assess patients‟ ability to pay when they turn up sick for treatment. The most
practical way to finance the funding gap is through the establishment of a
health
insurance scheme.
Mr. Speaker, the 2012 Survey of Living Conditions (SLC) reports that approximately 19% of
Jamaicans have health insurance coverage and approximately 22% of those who were ill
had health insurance coverage. As a first-step towards filling the financing gap through
health insurance, our administration started the process of interfacing the private health
insurance system, with the public health service, to facilitate the billing of private health
insurance schemes whose subscribers use the public health services. I recall that the
current Minister of Health came to Parliament with an announcement regarding this
important aspect of health financing. The Minister should update the nation on this.
National Health Insurance for Wellness Advancement (NHIWA) (New Way)
Mr. Speaker, the Labour Party proposes to establish a contributory
National Health Insurance for Wellness Advancement (NHIWA) program (pron:
New Way)
to finance free access to healthcare for all Jamaicans. The Member from West
Central St. Catherine, when he was Minister of health, had started work on developing such
a scheme. I have asked him to continue his work on this as a special project. Already, there